West Ham United head coach Julen Lopetegui spoke to the media today ahead of the clash with Wolves at the London Stadium.
Julen Lopetegui is a man under real pressure right now, and the West Ham boss narrowly avoided the sack during a board meeting on Thursday.
The Hammers have been terrible this season aside from two performances – at home to Ipswich and away at Newcastle.
In truth, we looked pretty good at times against Leicester, but we defended appallingly.
Lopetegui has to take the blame – he has failed to implement a discernible style of play and has seemingly fallen out with players behind the scenes.
The Spaniard certainly hasn’t lived up to expectations at the London Stadium so far.
And it’s incredibly annoying that a win over Wolves will probably be enough to keep him in the job.
Lopetegui’s London Stadium verdict ahead of West Ham vs Wolves
The Hammers are in real trouble right now.
All is clearly not well behind the scenes at the London Stadium.
Julen Lopetegui manager / head coach of West Ham United reacts during the Premier League match between Leicester City FC and West Ham United FC at ...
Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images
MORE WEST HAM STORIES
And the players are all very low on confidence ahead of the game against Wolves.
Lopetegui spoke to the press today, and delivered a bizarre verdict on our home ground, as quoted by WHUFC.com
The 58-year-old Hammers head coach said, “I know they are going to support the players a lot and stay with us, because always their energy is amazing. We are going to need that energy again on Monday, because it does give the players an extra lift.“
Now, even the most ardent of West Ham fans will admit that the atmosphere at the London Stadium is far from impressive.
Aside from a few games where the place had been bouncing – notably the Sevilla win in 2022 and out 32 victory over Liverpool in 2021, the atmosphere at our Stratford home has resembled that of a graveyard.
Sure, the fans get up for it when we’re winning, but the place is a ghost-town otherwise.
The acoustics of the stadium don’t help, and the distance between the seats and the pitch is just too far to intimidate the away team.
I have never liked the London Stadium, but it is what it is – we have to try and make it a fortress, somehow.
However, it’s clear to me that the atmosphere will be toxic at our Stratford home on Monday night, with the majority of fans desperate for Lopetegui to be sacked.
The West Ham vs Wolves clash at the London Stadium will be a strange game, with both Julen Lopetegui and Gary O’Neil facing the sack if their sides don’t win the match.
And I feel like the fans definitely won’t be behind the Spaniard on Monday night, despite what he might think.
Related Posts